More

Top Ways To Celebrate Earth Day 2013 In Connecticut

April 8, 2013 9:00 AM

April 22nd is Earth Day, yet many towns and organizations still choose to observe it on a different date. This year, Earth Day falls on a Monday. That is not a work or school holiday, so many places will mark it with events on the weekends on either side of the date. The Peabody Museum at Yale, for example, is making its big play on Friday the 19th, while the town of Woodbury is waiting until Saturday the 27thto hold its annual Earth Day fair at Hollow Park. While some may find that confusing, for most in Connecticut it just means more options and opportunities to honor Mother Earth, and over the course of not just one day but 10. Find a day and celebration that works for you.

Is there a more fitting place to start an Earth Day weekend than at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History? The Sierra Club and other groups concerned about the environment will have representatives at the museum to offer patrons their views on conservation, sustainability and other ways on how to best help the planet survive. A new exhibit on the land of the pharaohs, “Echoes of Egypt,” opens that same week, and as always, the Discovery Room and other popular programs and permanent exhibits will be open to the public during the Earth Day observances.

For the fifth year in a row, hundreds and perhaps as many as 1,000 bicyclists will pedal eight-mile one-way and up to 20-mile round-trip routes from one side of New Haven to the other, with food and fun and music at both the start and finish of the traditional “Rock to Rock” ride. The goal this year is to raise $150,000 for local charities and environmental organizations. At the main launch point at Common Ground High School, there will be a fresh farm breakfast, live music from CT Folk and a special photographic exhibit courtesy of the EPA. There are other smaller starting points for riders, but everyone ends at East Rock State Park, where there will be food, games, a green expo and more music. A group ride back to Common Ground is scheduled for 3 p.m., but bus and other transport options are available.

In Hartford, Earth Day starts with prayer, continues with a march and then ends with food and fun in a fair-like atmosphere. As April 21st is a Sunday, it is only fitting that the organizers of the Hartford Riverfront Earth Day begin their observance with prayer. Everything starts with an interfaith service at the St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church on 285 Church Street, followed by a peaceful march for environmental awareness along the sidewalks of Hartford from there to the Plaza. Then it is on to the Riverfront where “eco-friendly local food vendors,” artists, artisans and organizations will be offering their wares, demonstrations, displays and hands-on activities, all with the goal of “educating, inspiring, and empowering people” to act in ways that honor and respect each other and the Earth they share.

The Litchfield County town of Woodbury has been doing Earth Day right for the past 18 years, thanks largely to the generous sponsorship of the New Morning Market. While the market is still the biggest supporter of the fair-like event, this year, the town’s Business and Economic Development Committee has also “jumped in with both feet” as its site proudly boasts to help host the event. As in previous years, there will be live music, animal and nature walks and demonstrations and activities for children and adults. Last year there were nearly 100 booths where all manner of organizations and groups from the Audubon Society to the Woodbury Yoga center offered advice, put on demonstrations and handed out information. There is never a shortage of food vendors, all of whom offer healthy, organic and natural products from farms, bakeries and restaurants in the immediate area.

Not every town marks Earth Day with a festival – or even marks it on Earth Day. The town of Milford, for example, has set aside Saturday May 11 as 2013’s Milford Earth Day. The Milford Earth Day Committee’s idea of observing Mother Earth’s special day is to treat her to a makeover. An environmental action group, the committee organizes townspeople into work parties that clean up and “beautify our place.” Director Vincent Piselli is in charge of this marriage of public and private organizations, which every year exercises what his committee calls a “stewardship of local open spaces.” Last year, over 300 volunteers removed more than 20 cubic yards of trash, installed more than 2,000 square feet of “natural landscapes” and cleared over half an acre of brush from EisenhowerPark. There is food and fun to be had, from classic fairground games to vendors’ booths. This year the committee expects it will attract even more vendors than last year, where they broke the previous record with 24 exhibitors.

Mark G. McLaughlin is a professional and prolific writer with a proven publishing record in a wide variety of fields. An historian, novelist, freelance journalist, ghost-writer, book reviewer, magazine editor, web and magazine columnist, Mark has more than 30 years of experience. His work can be found at Examiner.com.